Jm 


'■^"'\^-.    \ 


kiy 


m 


5^>- 


^" 


*«. 


^«& 


*,j^ 


.m . 


:.:3i^ 


^"* 
yf^ 


4.  » 


^  i 


i 


-t 


SERMON, 

I>£LIT£R£D  BEFOBE  TB£ 

CONVENTION 

OF  THE 

PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHUBCH 

IN  THE 

STATE  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

Held  in  St.  James's  Church,  Philadelphia,  May  3, 1815; 
AND  PUBUSHED  BY  REqUEST. 

BY  THE  REV.  FREDERICK  BEASLEY,  D.  D. 

ProvosI  of  the  University  of  rennsylvania. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED  BY  EDWARD  EARLK 

William  Fry,  Printer. 

1815. 

5c^ 


/i ..  /- 


A  SERMON,  &c. 


John  xxi.  IT* 

He  saith  unto  him  the  third  time,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  mei 
Peter  was  grieved  because  he  said  unto  him  the  third  time,  Lovest  thou 
me?  And  lie  said  unto  him.  Lord!  thou  knowest  all  thing-s;  thou  knowest 
that  I  love  thee.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Feed  my  sheep. 

St.  JOHN,  the  beloved  disciple,  in  the  strain  of  whose 
composition  there  are  a  tenderness  and  an  amenitj^  which 
have  never  been  surpassed,  if  ever  equalled,  by  any  sacred 
or  profane  author,  here  exhibits  a  most  affecting  interview 
of  the  Apostles  with  their  divine  Master,  that  took  place 
in  the  interval  between  his  resurrection  and  ascension.  Jesus 
Christ  after  having  given  them  at  this  interview,  as  at  many 
others,  infallible  proofs  of  his  resurrection,  before  he  takes 
his  final  leave  of  them,  addresses  himself  particularly  to  St. 
Peter,  v/hose  ardour  and  vehemence  of  temper  and  dispo- 
sition, at  the  same  time  that  they  exposed  him  to  danger, 
and  sometimes  hurried  him  into  the  most  culpable  excesses, 
nevertheless  rendered  him  one  of  the  most  interesting,  if  not 
the  most  interesting  of  the  twelve  Apostles.  As  if  the  more 
deeply  to  impress  upon  his  mind,  the  high  responsibility  of 
the  station  he  should  occupy  after  his  departure,  thrice,  at 
that  solemn  moment,  he  repeats  the  enquiry,  "  Simon,  son 


of  Jonas,  lovcst  thou  me?"  and  wlicii  Peter  with  characte- 
ristic impetuosit}',  immediately  replies, "  Lord!  thou  knowest 
that  I  love  thee;"  he  rejoins,  as  if  to  make  him  sensible  of 
the  most  incontestable  evidence  he  could  give  of  that  love, 
feed  my  sheep. 

Such,  my  reverend  brethren,  is  the  station  which  you  at 
present  occupy.  As  was  St.  Peter  and  his  illustrious  col- 
leagues, in  this  pure  and  primitive  age,  so  are  you  now, 
shepherds  commissioned  by  Christ,  under  the  most  solemn 
injunctions  of  fidelity,  to  feed  the  flock  which  he  hath  pur- 
chased with  his  own  blood.  You  are  embassadors,  accredited 
by  God  to  promulge  his  holy  law,  and  proclaim  amongst 
men  the  terms  on  which  he  w^ill  condescendto  be  reconciled 
to  them.  You  are  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  grace.  To 
your  superintendance  the  Saviour  hath  committed  the 
manifold  and  momentous  concerns  of  his  church.  In  a 
word,  the  everlasting  interests  of  mankind  most  largely 
depend  upon  your  fidelity  and  diligence  in  the  discharge  of 
vour  sacred  functions.  What  an  office  do  you  hold!  How- 
dignified  and  important  is  it!  How  awful  your  responsibility 
to  your  supreme  Lord!  To  each  of  you  at  his  ordination, 
your  divine  Master  virtually  addressed  his  enquir)-  to  St. 
Peter,  "lovest  thou  me?"  and  left  him  at  the  same  time  the 
solemn  admonition  to  demonstrate  his  love  by  feeding  his 
sheep;  that  is,  by  a  diligent  and  anxious  attention  to  his  pa- 
rochial duties. 

I  assure  you,  my  brethren,  I  am  fully  sensible  of  the 
delicacy  and  impoitance  of  the  task  imposed  upon  me,  on 
this  occasion,  l)y  our  venerable  Diocesan,  and  feel  myself 
under  sacred  obligations  faithfull;.  to  perforin  it.  It  is  our 
duty,  at  all  times,  *^to  provoke  one  anotlier  to  love  and  to 
good  works;"  but  moie  especially  so  at  such  opportunities 
as  the  present.  I   should   consider  myself  as  delinquent  in 


duty,  you  yourselves,  I  am  assured,  would  not  excuse  me, 
should  I  not  address  you,  on  this  occasion,  with  that  can- 
dour, and  freedom,  and  boldness,  which  become  the  minis- 
ter of  Jesus  Christ.  The  duties  of  the  ministry — the  motives 
which  propel  us  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  these  duties; 
these  are  subjects  too  important  in  their  nature,  not  to  en- 
sure me  an  attentive  hearing  from  the  present  audience. 

My  reverend  brethren,  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  it  is 
true,  presents  nothing,  as  far  as  relates  to  the  things  of  this 
world,  to  allure  you.  Your  career,  while  engaged  in  it, 
useful  as  it  is,  is  not  splendid.  The  course  which  you  have 
chosen  to  pursue  is  along  the  cool  sequestered  walks  of  life. 
The  performance  of  those  silent  duties  which  are  incumbent 
upon  you,  is  not  calculated  to  attract  to  you  the  attentions, 
or  the  caresses,  or  the  homage  of  men.  You  cannot  expect 
that  the  honours,  the  dignities,  or  the  riches  of  this  world 
await  you.  If  you  have  imbibed  the  spirit  of  your  high  and 
holy  calling,  these  are  not  objects  on  which  you  expend  a  sigh. 
Your  desires,  I  trust,  disengaging  themselves  from  the 
pomps  and  vanities  of  earth,  have  been  elevated  to  a  better, 
that  is  to  say,  a  heavenly  country.  The  dignities  and  ho- 
nours, after  which  you  should  aspire,  are  those  crowns  of 
glory  which  shall  be  bestowed  upon  you  as  the  recompense 
of  your  toils  in  your  Redeemer's  kingdom.  Nevertheless, 
while  you  remain  on  earth,  you  are  connected  with  your 
fellow-men  by  the  most  interesting  and  endearing  relations. 
Out  of  these  relations  spring  many  important  duties  which 
you  should  never  fail,  scrupulously,  and  to  the  utmost,  to 
fulfill.  Before  this  enlightened  body  it  is  unnecessary  that  I 
should  dilate  upon  this  part  of  mv  subject.  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient that  I  slightly  touch  upon  tliose  numerous  and  ardu- 
ous duties  which  are  incumbent  upon  the  christian  minister. 
*'  Study  to  show    thyself,"  says  St.    Paul   to   Timothy, 


^'  approved  unto  God,  a  workman  that  nccdctli  not  to  be 
ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  trutli/'  And  again 
to  Titus,  says  this  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  "  in  all  things 
showing  th^  self  a  pattern  of  good  works:  in  doctrine  show- 
ing unr.orruptncss,  gravity,  sincerity,  sound  speecli  that 
cannot  be  condemned;  tliat  he  that  is  of  the  contrary  part- 
may  be  ashamed,  having  no  evil  thing  to  say  of  you." 

This  is  a  portrait  of  the  minister  of  the  gospel  drawn  by 
the  hand  of  an  illustrious  master.  ''^  In  doctrine,"  says  he, 
"showing  uncorruptness,  gravit}-,  sincerity,  sound  speech 
that  cannot  be  condemned."  The  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ 
should  be  indefatigable  in  announcing  to  his  people  the  glad 
tidings  of  salvation,  and  in  expounding  to  them  the  law  and 
testimony  of  his  God.  He  should  "  preach  the  word  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season."  He  should  boldly  declare  the  whole 
counsel  of  God.  He  should  reprove  and  rebuke  when  cir- 
cumstances demand  it,  with  all  confidence  and  authority. 
Released  from  the  fear  of  man,  the  fear  of  God  only  should 
be  the  ruling  motive  of  his  actions.  To  gain  the  favour  of 
men,  let  him  never  dare  mitigate  the  rigours  of  the  divine 
law.  His  doctrines  should  never  be  so  modified,  and  soft- 
ened, and  frittered  away,  as  to  suit  the  corruptions,  or  tlie 
prejudices,  or  the  fastidiousness  of  his  audience.  While  he 
is  careful  to  exhibit,  on  all  occasions,  both  in  his  language 
and  deportment,  that  modesty  imd  meekness  which  are  so 
amiable  in  the  man,  and  so  congenial  to  the  spirit  of  his 
ministr)',  he  should  never  allow  a  false  and  culpable  distrust 
of  himself,  nor  a  reluctance  to  excite  painful  alarms,  nor  tlie 
sometimes  "mnocent  apprehension  of  giving  offence,  to  in- 
duce him  to  ap])ly  palliatives  where  the  probe  only  can  effect 
a  cure.  Recollecting  that  the  gospel  is  pre-eminently  a  dis- 
pensation of  grace,  he  should  exhaust  all  the  innocent  arts 
of  pulpit    persuasion,  to  allure  sinner*^  to  repentance  and 


reformation,  but  should  they  prove  refractory  and  contuma- 
cious, despising  his  reproofs,  and  setting  at  naught  his  most 
solemn  admonitions,  he  should  clothe  himself  in  the  most 
awful  thunders  of  the  gospel.  He  should  never  cease  in  his 
endeavours  to  instruct  the  ignorant,  to  convince  the  incre- 
dulous, to  confirm  the  wavering,  to  establish  the  faith  of 
believers,  and  to  reclaim  the  guilty.  A  tender  regard  to  the 
souls  of  men,  should  impart  a  spirit  and  an  unction  to  all 
his  addresses,  and  should  animate  all  his  conduct.  In  all  his 
instructions  from  the  sacred  desk,  he  should  closely  adhere 
to  that  "form  of  sound  words"  contained  in  the  scripture. 
On  the  one  hand,  he  should  carefully  avoid  all  cold  moral, 
metaphysical,  or  philosophical  disquisitions,  that  contain  no 
solid  nutriment  for  his  flock;  and  on  the  other,  he  should 
refrain  with  equal  solicitude  from  the  ridiculous  reveries, 
the  crude  and  incoherent  declamations,  the  indecent  ravings 
of  ignorance  and  fanaticism.  He  should  deliver  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus.  He  should  preach  the  gospel  to  his  people  in 
its  purity,  its  simplicity,  and  its  energy;  ever  remembering 
that  it  is  a  sublime  code  of  moral  lavv^s  enforced  by  the  most 
powerful  evangelical  sanctions. 

But  the  toils  of  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  by  no  means 
terminate  in  the  pulpit.  From  the  pulpit  he  should  descend, 
as  did  Moses  from  those  tlumders,  lightnings,  and  loud 
trumpet's  sounds  which  shook  Sinai,  while  he  promulged 
the  law,  to  conduct  his  people  to  the  promised  land.  He 
should  be  unremittedly  attentive  to  parochial  visitations.  It 
is  by  cultivating  habits  of  intercourse  with  his  people  that 
he  becomes  acquainted  with  the  field  in  which  he  is  to 
labour,  that  he  gains  admission  to  their  hearts,  engages 
their  aflfections,  and  thcrcl)y  gives  tenfold  efficacy  to  his 
public  ministrations.  And  if  the  clergymjui  should  sedu- 
louslv  cultivate  habits  of  frlcndlv  intercourse  with  hiswliole 


8 

flock,  he  should  be  more  particularly  attentive  to  those  who 
stand  in  need  of  his  assistance.  Here  he  should  ever  yield  a 
prompt  and  cheerful  obedience  to  the  calls  of  duty.  He 
should  delight  to  cheer  by  his  presence  the  houses  of 
mourning.  He  should  be  a  father  to  the  fatherless  of  his 
flock,  and  a  husband  to  the  widow.  The  wretched  should 
always  find  in  him  a  comforter;  the  poor,  a  friend. 

The  minister  of  the  gospel  should,  as  far  as  is  practicable, 
be  a  man  of  letters.  He  should  snatch  every  moment  that 
can  be  spared  from  his  indispensable  avocations,  and  devote 
it  to  the  cultivation  of  science.  The  more  his  mind  is  en- 
larged by  literature,  and  the  more  the  sphere  of  his  infor- 
mation is  extended,  the  greater,  for  the  most  part,  will  be 
his  success  in  the  service  of  his  Master.  What  talents  and 
erudition  have,  in  modern  times,  unhappily  for  mankind, 
been  enlisted  on  the  side  of  irreligion!  The  minister  of  the 
gospel  should  prepare  himself,  by  studv  and  imj)rovement, 
to  resist  the  enemies  of  his  faith.  He  should  be  able  to  ex- 
pose their  sophistry,  to  detect  their  secret  machinations,  and 
to  repel  their  open  assaults.  He  should,  above  all  things, 
make  himself  acquainted,  and  profoundly  acquainted,  with 
the  evidences  of  our  holv  religion.  He  should  be  able  to 
give  a  prompt  and  satisfactor}'  answer  to  any  man  who 
asketh  him  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  He  should 
never  rest  satisfied  until  he  has  gained  access  to  all  those 
lights  of  philosophy,  of  history,  and  of  antiquity,  that  ser\'e 
to  illuminate  the  sacred  volume. 

These  are  qualifications  which  prepare  the  christian  mi- 
nister to  fill,  with  honour  and  efficiency,  his  public  station. 
What  should  he  be  in  private  life?  Where  is  the  virtue,  or 
where  the  grace  which  should  not  adorn  the  lives  of  the 
ministers  of  Him,  who  hath  set  before  them  a  model  of 
all  the  most  illustrious  virtues  and  most  resplendent  graces? 


9 

Copying  from  their  Saviour,  the  great  original  of  moral  ex- 
cellence, they  should  set  examples  which  their  flocks  may 
safely  imitate.  They  should  be  meek,  humble,  affable  and 
unassuming  in  their  deportment.  To  the  wisdom  of  the  ser- 
pent, enabling  them  to  comprehend  their  duties,  they  should 
unite  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove.  They  should,  above  all 
other  men,  be  long-suffering,  forbearing,  and  forgiving  in 
their  temper  and  disposition.  They  should  bear  with  mild- 
ness and  equanimity,  as  their  Lord  has  done  before  them, 
the  contradictions  of  sinners,  the  follies,  and  infirmities,  and 
passions  of  men.  They  should  be  quiet  and  peaceable  mem- 
bers of  society.  Peculiarly  seemly  in  their  profession,  is  the 
ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit.  When  those  strifes, 
and  contentions,  and  animosities  arise,  which  occasion  so 
large  a  proportion  of  the  infelicities  and  miseries  of  human 
life,  they  should  take  upon  them  the  office  of  making  peace. 
In  a  word,  like  their  great  Exemplar,  they  should  find  their 
highest  delight  in  doing  good.  They  should  be  hospitable, 
benevolent,  charitable — ^Their  hands  should  always  be  open 
to  the  utmost  of  their  ability,  to  supply  the  necessities  of 
the  indigent — They  should  observe  frugality  and  simplicity 
in  their  domestic  economy— They  should  be  temperate  in 
their  meat  and  drink;  abstemious  in  indulging  the  pleasures 
of  the  world— They  should  scrupulously  avoid,  in  their 
intercourse  with  men,  all  appearance  of  show,  of  pride,  or 
ostentation — They  should  demonstrate  that  they  are  not 
covetous  of  the  paltry  riches  of  earth;  but  that  the  riches 
after  which  they  aspire,  are  accumulated  in  that  land  in 
which  they  expect  to  attain  to  everlasting  rest.  The  minister 
of  Christ  should  be  a  man  of  prayer,  of  meditation,  and 
heavenly-mindedness.  He  should  find  his  meat  and  drink 
in  performing  the  exercises  of  a  holy  life.  His  closet,  and 
domestic  state,  as  well  as  the  temples  of  his  God,  should 

B 


10 

be  familiar  with  the  language  oi  liis  devotions.  In  ilnc,  he 
should  be  exemplary  in   all  his  walk   and  conversation.    I 
know  that  we  should  be  careful  not  to  exact  too  much  ot 
the  ministers  of  religion.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  after 
all,  like  the  rest  of  mankind,  they  are  but  dust  and  ashes, 
and  must  be  supposed  to  have  their  share  of  the  foibles  and 
imperfections  of  human  nature.  But  the  more  they  strive  to 
be  perfect  as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect — the  more 
they  exert  themselves  to  attain  to  that  consummation  of  holi- 
ness which  was  exhibited  in  the  life  of  their  blessed  Lord, 
the  nearer  will  they  approximate  to  it,  and  the  greater  will 
be  their  progress  in  the  divine  life.  And  what  a  shame  is 
it,  what  a  scandal  to  the  church,  and  reproach  upon  our 
holy  profession,  when  he  who  ministers  in  sacred  things, 
who  presumes  to  come  up  to   the  very  sanctuary  of  God) 
and  officiate  in  the  holy  of  holies,  is  polluted  with  vices  or 
irregularities  of  life?  Shall  he,  whose  office  it  is  to  promulge 
the  holy  laws  of  God,  violate  those  laws?  he  who  enforces 
upon  others  their  obligations  to  live  a  virtuous  and  pious 
life,  break  through  those  obligations?  Shall  those  who  should 
set  examples  to  others,  have  their  characters  stained  and 
blasted  with  impurities?  Shall  they,  who  are  commissioned 
to  call  sinners  to  repentance,  themselves  stand  in  most  need 
of  penitence?   they  who  should  save  odiers,  be  themselves 
the  first  that  perish?  Surely,  if  the   ministers  of  the  gospel, 
cannot  attain  to  perfection  in  holiness,  they  can  at  any  rate 
refrain  from  scandalous  offences;  if  they  cannot  adorn  their 
professsion  by  their  talents  and  virtues,  they  can  avoid  sink- 
ing into  contemj)!,  disgrace,  and  scorn. 

Such  is  a  very  brief  view  of  the  duties  of  the  christian 
minister.  Tq.the  perfomimce  of  these  duties,  you  are  pro- 
pelled by  numerous  and  powerful  motives.  Some  of  these 
motives  are  common  to  vou  and  the  preachers  ot  the  gospel 


11 

In  all  ages;  others  spring  out  of  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  our  own  country. 

The  examples  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  present  the  first 
motive  to  activity  and  diligence  in  performing  the  duties  of 
your  sacred  office.  You  well  know  what  the  great  Founder 
of  our  religion  sustained  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel. 
You  have  often  wept  at  the  recital  of  his  sufferings.  From 
the  period  in  which  he  commenced  the  duties  of  the  minis- 
try, his  life  was  but  an  uninterrupted  series  of  the  most 
frightful  ills  which  can  assail  human  nature.  He  denied 
himself  all  the  enjoyments  of  earth,  in  order  to  promote  the 
iiappinesss  of  mankind — He  had  not  a  place  on  which  to 
lay  his  head — He  had  to  pursue  his  way  through  number- 
less fatigues  and  difficulties,  while  environed  by  dangers 
from  his  cruel  persecutors — He,  at  length,  fell  a  sacrifice  to 
their  virulence  and  fury — He  poured  out  on  Calvary  his 
his  precious  blood.  These  are  the  ills  our  blessed  Lord  en- 
countered in  the  promulgation  of  his  gospel — And  shall  we 
be  discouraged  by  the  few  difficulties  with  which  we  meet 
— difficulties,  which,  when  compared  with  his,  are  lighter 
than  the  dust  of  the  balance?  When  we  feel  our  zeal  cool- 
ing, let  us  go  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  and  see  our 
Lord  labouring  under  those  pangs  which  occasioned  his 
bloody  sweat;  to  the  hall  of  Pilate  that  witnessed  his  indig- 
nities and  injuries;  or  to  the  hill  of  Calvary,  on  which, 
amidst  the  agonies  of  crucifixion,  he  resigned  his  breath; 
and  catch  new  fervour  in  the  sacred  cause. 

But  if  it  be  imagined,  that  in  the  character  of  the  Saviour, 
there  was  a  sublimity  of  excellence  which  renders  it  inim- 
itable— if  it  be  supposed  that  his  virtues  were  of  so  exalted 
and  transcendant  nature,  that  we  cannot  aspire  after  a  per- 
fect imitation  of  them;  look  at  his  Apostles.  They  were 
feeble  men  like  ourselves;  yet  what  an  illustrious  example 


12 

have  they  set  us!  They  have  acted  a  part  in  the  great  work 
of  prom ul gin g  Christianity  little  less  than  divine.  My  mind 
is  filled  with  emotions  of  the  highest  degree  of  the  sublime, 
when  I  follow  these  great  men  through  their  glorious  career. 
Setting  off  from  the  tomb  of  their  Saviour,  a  spark  issues 
from  his  ashes,  that  kindles  within  them  unquenchable 
ardour  in  his  service.  They  pursue  their  way  through  dif- 
ficulties, and  discouragements,  and  the  most  formidable 
dangers.  The  church  presents  to  their  view  only  the  simili- 
tude of  a  fiery  furnace,  heated  by  the  flames  of  persecution; 
yet  these  true  sons  of  Israel  walk,  undaunted,  in  the  midst  of 
it — They  traverse  every  region  with  incredible  rapidity— 
They  sow  the  seeds  of  gospel-truth  M'ith  equal  success 
amidst  the  wilderness  of  barbarous  life,  and  in  the  culti* 
vated  fields  of  science  and  philosophy — Hunger,  thirst,  cold, 
nakedne«>s,  bonds  and  imprisonments,  are  their  daily  fare- 
Some  shed  their  blood  in  Judca,  others  in  the  East,  some 
in  the  South,  others  in  the  West;  yet  none  are  discouraged, 
none  relax  in  their  exertions,  none  shrink  back  from  the 
perilous  enterprise  on  which  they  have  embarked.  My  God! 
what  a  motive  does  the  conduct  of  these  holy  men  offer  to 
us  of  activity  and  zeal  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel! 
With  such  animating  examples  before  us,  can  we  sink  into  a 
criminal  and  fatal  apathy? 

The  pre-eminent  excellence  of  that  church  to  which  you 
belong,  in  her  doctrines,  discipline,  and  forms  of  worship, 
presents  another  incentive  to  unremitted  activity  and  zeal 
in  discharging  the  functions  of  your  sacred  office. — In  the 
midst  of  those  numberless  errors  which  divide  and  dis- 
honour Christendom,  you  are  assured  that  you  fmd  in  her 
doctrines  the  lamp  of  pure  and  primitive  truth,  and  in  her 
exterior  form,  the  glorious  model  of  apostolic  government 
and  order.  The  very  plan  upon  which  our  reformers  pro- 


ceeded  with  a  moderation,  a  caution,  and  a  comprehension 
which  have  done  them  immortal  honour,  was  to  separate 
the  genuine  ore  of  Christianity,  from  the  dross  and  rubbish 
which  had  been  connected  with  it  ckiring  its  progress 
through  the  dark,  and  gloomy  periods  of  its  history.  To 
this  end  were  directed  all  their  researches  into  primitive 
history  and  antiquity — To  this  end  were  devoted  all  their 
zeal  and  assiduity  in  preaching;  and  to  its  accomplishment, 
many  of  them  willingly  and  triumphantly  shed  their  blood. 
My  brethren:  this  is  a  topic,  on  which  I  can  never  dwell  with- 
out feeling  my  bosom  dilate  with  conscious  enthusiasm  and 
exultation— The  interests  of  this  church  are  ever  near  my 
heart — Attached  to  her  from  the  earliest  recollections,  as 
well  as  from  the  habits  of  education,  and  first  brought  within 
her  sacred  pale  to  recognize  the  existence  and  presence  of 
a  Deity,  and  to  acknowledge  the  endearing  claims  of  a  Re- 
deemer, I  have  found  with  sacred  pride,  my  early  prepos- 
sessions in  her  favour,  sanctioned  and  confirmed  by  the 
subsequent  convictions  of  my  understanding — I  have  found 
her  upon  examination,  all  that  my  most  fervent  wishes 
could  have  led  me  to  desire,  or  my  most  sanguine  hopes  to 
anticipate;  pure  and  unadulterated  in  her  doctrines,  primi- 
tive in  her  form  of  government,  of  pre-eminent  chastity  and 
simplicity  in  her  rites  and  ceremonies,  of  unrivalled  excel- 
lence and  sublimity  in  her  forms  of  worship,  and  exhibiting 
throughout  her  whole  frame  and  organization,  a  beautiful 
and  glorious  model  of  that  church,  which,  in  the  first  and 
and  golden  age  of  Christianity,  was  fashioned  by  the  hands 
of  Christ  himself,  and  his  Apostles,  and  cemented  with 
their  blood.  Such  is  the  truly  primitive  and  apostolic  church 
to  which  we  belong,  both  in  her  internal  principles  and  ex- 
ternal structure.  True,  she  retained  not  her  primeval  purity 
and  perfection,  during  her  passage  through  the  dark  ages. 


14 

but  becoming  dcteri<^raled,  corrupted,  and  sullied,  was  in- 
fested with  all  those  monstrous  errors  in  doctrine,  and 
abuses  in  practice,  that  fraud  and  superstition  could  engen- 
der in  the  bosom  of  ignorance  and  blind  credulit} — but,  at 
the  revival  of  true  religion  and  learning  in  Europe,  under  the 
master  hands  of  our  illustrious  reformers,  she  was  restored 
to  her  primitive  glory  and  beauty,  and  became  the  pride 
and  bulwark  of  the  reformation. — It  is  this  church,  so  vene- 
rable for  her  antiquitv,  so  admirable  both  in  her  internal  and 
external  frame  and  organization,  of  such  surpassing  excel- 
lence and  sublimity  in  her  forms  of  worship,  whose  desti- 
nies are,  under  her  great  Head,  entrusted  to  our  care.  And 
shall  not  our  most  strenuous  exertions  be  directed  to  guard 
her  from  dangers,  and  promote  her  peace  and  prosperity? 
Far  be  it  from  me,  to  wish  to  excite  among  you  a  spirit  of 
bigotry  and  intolerance,  the  fruitful  parents  of  persecution 
and  all  that  horrid  progeny  of  mischiefs  and  miseries  that 
follow  in  its  train — But  is  a  warm  and  decided  preference 
of  our  own  church,  inconsistent  with  the  sentiments  of  good 
will  and  brotherly  kindness,  to  all  denominations  of  chris- 
tians? While  we  conceive  them  to  have  deviated  both  in 
doctrine  and  practice,  from  the  truth  once  delivered  to  the 
saints,  and  would  make  use  of  all  lawful  and  proper  expe- 
dients to  bring  them  back  to  what  we  must  ever  regard  as 
the  true  fold  of  Christ;  cannot  we  cherish  a  delicate  and 
scrupulous  respect  for  their  rights  of  conscience?  In  a  word, 
is  there  no  medium  between  universal  latitudinarianism 
and  bigotr}',  and  intolerance — between  a  criminal  neglect 
earnestly  to  contend  for  the  faiUi,  and  lighting  the  fires  of 
persecution — ^Ijetween  embracing  or  justifying  the  errors 
that  prevail,  and  consigning  our  l)rethren  over  to  the  wheel 
of  the  inquisitor?  In  order  not  to  violate  the  great  and  funda- 
mental law  of  charitv,  must  we  close  our  eyes  against  the 


15 

light  of  truth,  or  seal  our  mouths,  and  cease  to  proclaim  it? 
God  forbid — This  would  be  to  abandon  the  post  assigned 
us  by  high  heaven,  and  to  become  traitors  to  the  sacred 
cause  of  religion. — What!  Shall  it  be  required  of  us,  as  a 
part  of  christian  charity,  to  be  silent,  when  we  see  such 
errors  broached  and  propagated,  as  are  eating  out,  like  a 
canker,  the  very  core  of  religion  among  us,  and  some  of 
which  are  evils  that  present  a  most  formidable  and  porten- 
tous aspect  to  the  very  existence  of  Christianity  itself?  Are 
our  mouths  to  remain  hermetically  sealed,  when  we  behold 
some  overthrow  the  fundamental  principles  of  that  venera- 
ble and  goodly  order  of  church  government  by  Bishops, 
Priests,  and  Deacons,  dispensed  to  us  by  the  sacred  hand  of 
her  divine  founder  and  head,  and  promulge  doctrines  that 
would  throw  a  shade  of  malignity  over  the  benign  moral 
character  of  the  Almighty;  and  others,  refusing  to  extend 
to  our  beloved  offspring,  the   precious  privilege  of  being 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  faith  and   adopted  into  the 
holy  family  of  God?  some  waging  war  again  stall  externals 
in  religion,  and  discarding  even  the  sacraments  themselves, 
which  Christ  hath  bestowed  on  us  as  the  endearing  pledges 
of  his  love,  and  the  richest  nutriment  of  the  pious  soul; 
others  converting  the  worship  of  God,  who  requires  us  to 
serve  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  into  scenes  of  confusion 
and  wild  uproar?  some  relaxing  the  very  springs  of  the 
of  the  divine  government,  and  stripping  the  gospel  of  its 
most  awful  sanctions,  by  denying  those  future  tremendous 
penalties  which  it  represents  as  the  portion  of  the  guilty, 
and  thereby  opening  a  door   to   boundless  licentiousness, 
and  profligacy  of  manners?  others  embracing  the  scheme 
and  uttering  the  language  of  the  impious  Socinus,  mutter- 
ing blasphemies  against  the  Son  of  God,  denying  the  very 
Lord  who  bought  them,  and  whose  sacred  name  they  pre- 


16 

sume  to  wear,  when  by  rejecting  his  divinity  they  would 
take  from  Christianity  its  ver)^  [lifc-bloodf  When  errors 
such  as  these  are  prevalent,  some  of  which  are  not  only 
false  in  theory,  but  most  mischievous  in  their  influence  upon 
society,  shall  any  considerations  withhold  us  from  raising 
our  voice  against  them?  We  would  not,  indeed,  wish  to 
interfere  with  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience,  and  prescribe 
limits  to  an  unbounded  freedom  of  opinion;  or  subject  the 
the  understandings  of  mankind  to  the  restraints  of  law  and 
coercion.  The  weapons  of  that  warfare  which  we  would 
carry  on  against  errors,  are  not  carnal,  but  spiritual — We 
would  meet  them  in  the  fair  field  of  argument,  under  the 
full  conviction  that  truth,  if  her  advocates  are  faithful  to  her 
cause,  will  ultimately  triumph.  Let  our  ministers,  therefore, 
while  they  attempt  not  to  interfere  with  the  modes  of  wor- 
ship instituted  by  other  denominations  of  christians,  be 
staunch  to  their  own  principles,  imbibe  the  genuine  spirit 
of  an  Episcopalian  ministr\^,  preach  the  unadulterated  doc- 
trines of  the  cross,  and  rigorously  conform  to  that  liturgy, 
which  in  my  estimation,  (and  in  this  opinion,  I  am  sup- 
ported by  many  men  of  the  most  approved  taste  and  exten- 
sive erudition)  is  of  a  more  various  and  surpassing  excel- 
lence than  any  uninspired  compositions  extant  in  our 
language  or  perhaps  in  anv  other.— And  here,  my  breth- 
ren, you  will  allow  me  to  remark,  as  another  motive  to  indus- 
tn',  that  refreshing  to  the  souls  of  the  faithful  as  are  the 
s\TTiptoms  which  have  lately  displayed  themselves  in  our 
churches  in  this  countn ,  of  an  increased  attention  to  the 
duties  of  religion — it  is  not  to  be  denied,  and  I  repeat  it  to 
our  shame,  and  could  do  it  even  with  weeping;  it  is  not  to 
be  denied,  that  a  dreadful  coldness,  indifference  and  apathy 
have  seized  us  concerning  the  interests  of  our  church,  of 
religion,  and   even    in  regard  to  our  everlasting  salvation. 


17 

While  I  deprecate  the  introduction  among  us  of  a  blind, 
fiery  and  misguided  zeal;  what  would  I  not  give  to  see  pre- 
valent, the  genuine  ardours  of  an  enlightened  and  well 
directed  devotion!  Would  to  God!  That  I  could  catch  its 
sacred  glows  from  the  altars  of  heaven,  and  breathe  them 
into  your  bosoms  in  all  their  purifying,  renovating,  and  en- 
livening efficacy — Blessed  with  a  church,  having  pre-emi- 
nent claims  to  purity,  antiquity,  and  divine  authority,  in 
whose  services  we  find  the  unadulterated  word  of  God, 
the  fabric  of  whose  ecclesiastical  government  is  fashioned 
upon  the  apostolic  model,  and  whose  exterior  rites  and 
ceremonies  are  distinguished  by  the  simplicity  of  the  early 
ages,  we  know  not  how  to  appreciate  these  inestimable  pri- 
vileges— How  indolently  are  our  churches  attended  for  the 
purposes  of  public  worship!  how  little  frequented  the  sacred 
altars  of  our  God!  How  cold  and  indevout  are  we  in  our  ex- 
ercises of  devotion,  in  performing  our  impassioned  services! 
In  the  eagerness  and  inordinate  desire  with  which  we  engage 
in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  and  amidst  the  intoxication  pro- 
duced by  that  whirlpool  of  dissipation  in  which  we  are  toss- 
ed, all  serious  thoughts  of  futurity  are  excluded  from  our 
minds — Added  to  this  morbid  lethargy  in  our  most  import- 
ant concerns  and  this  rage  for  frivolous  or  licentious  indulg- 
ence, a  gloomy  and  baleful  plague  of  infidelity  is  creeping 
up  to  the  heart,  freezing  the  warm  current  of  our  immortal 
hopes,  and  stopping  the  pulse  of  spiritual  life  among  us. 
These  are  symptoms  which  should  alarm  our  fears  and  sti- 
mulate us  to  activity — They  are  sources  from  which  may 
spring  numberless  future  dangers  and  disasters.  Were  we 
all  as  alert,  active  and  zealous  in  the  defence  and  edification 
of  our  Zion,  as  we  should  be;  we  should  be  less  exposed  to 
the  inroads  of  fanaticism  and  a  wild  enthusiasm,  as  well  as 
to  the  bolder  invasions  of  our  open  and  more  formidable 

C 


18 

enemies.    And  is  there  no  mode,  my  christiiui  brethren,  by 
which  you  can  be  roused  from  the  torpor  of  indifference 
and  animated  into  some  concern  for  religion,  and  your  ever- 
lasting interests?  The  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion  are  too 
awful  to  be  lightly  regarded  by  you,  the   salvation  of  the 
soul,  too  momentous  to  be  thus  shamefully  neglected,  eter- 
nitv  too  dreadful  an  object  thus  to  live  in  a  total  and  cri- 
minal forgetfulness  of  it — Considerations  of  this  kind  should 
penetrate  deeply  into  our  hearts,  awaken  within  them  salu- 
tary feiu-s,  and  touch  all  the  springs  of  religious  sensibility. 
In  the  moral  and  religious  state  of  the  people  of  our  church, 
we  cannot   deny,  that  there  is  urgent  need  of  amendment; 
but  let  not  this  be  attempted  by  deviations  from  her  regular 
order,  but   rather  by   putting  into  vigorous  operation,  all 
those  means  which  she  has  established  for  the  improvement 
and  salvation  of  her  members.   We  want  excited  among  us 
a  spirit  of  greater  devotedness  to  our  Creator,  of  modera- 
tion, self-denial  and  abstemiousness  in  our  enjoyments,  and 
of  prayer  and  supplication  in  public,  in  our  domestic  state 
and  in  private — Perhaps,  there  are  no  three  moral  causes, 
that  have  so  great  an  influence  upon  nations,  families,  and 
mdividuals,  as  public,  domestic,  and  private  devotion.   In 
proportion  as  these  are  neglected,  nations  hasten  to  their 
declension  and  downfall,  families  to  extinction  and  private 
persons  to  ruin— And   for  iill  these   three  modes  of  inter- 
course with  heaven,  has  our  church  made  large,  and  ample 
provision  in  her  admirable  forms  of  worship — Would  we 
but  give  full  effect  to  her  wise,  and  wholesome  institutions 
and  ordinances,  and  catch  that  fer\  ent,  devout  and  heavenly 
spirit,  which  she  breathes,  what  a  holy  and  zealous  clergy  and 
people  should  wc  become,  what  a  praise  in  the  earth,  what 
bright    and  glorious   examples    to  our    christian   brethren! 
Lilt,  on  the  other  hand,  if  instead  of  imbibing  the  devo- 


19 

tional  spirit  of  our  church,  and  conforming  to  her  institu- 
tions, the  heads  of  families  among  us,  totally  neglect  or 
indolently  attend,  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God — if 
they  violate  without  scruple  the  holy  sabbath,  and  evidence 
their  contempt  for  the  ordinances  of  religion  by  keeping  at 
a  distance  from  those  altars  at  which  they  are  administered 
— if  family  worship  is  totally  omitted  by  them  as  well  as 
the  devotions  of  their  closets — in  a  word,  if  they  exhibit  no 
outward  proof,  that  they  live  in  the  fear  of  God  and  in  the 
performance  of  religious  duties,  what  are  we  to  expect  but 
that  the  condition  of  the  church  will  wax  worse  and  worse, 
until  it  falls  into  ruins;  but  that  the  rising  generation,  their 
beloved  offspring,  will  permit  their  ardent  sensibilities,  un- 
restrained by  the  discipline  of  a  virtuous  and  pious  educa- 
tion, to  shoot  forth  into  all  the  most  odious  and  pernicious 
forms  of  criminal  excess?  But  upon  this  subject  a  treatise 
might  be  written  of  itself,  so  copious  is  it,  and  interesting 
to  the  feelings — The  coldness  and  indifference  which  pre- 
vail in  matters  of  religion  should  suggest  another  motive  to 
the  zealous  performance  of  the  duties  of  the  ministry. 

You  should  be  excited  to  zeal  and  industry  in  your  holy 
vocation,  in  the  next  place,  from  considering  the  inveterate 
and  mischievous  libertinism  of  the  age.  The  tares  of  unbe- 
lief, unhappily  for  mankind,  were  sown  in  England,  and  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  along  with  the  good  seeds  of  the 
reformation — It  was  the  natural  progress  of  the  human  mind 
to  make  this  transition  from  the  extreme  of  superstition,  of 
a  foul  and  abominable  superstition,  to  that  of  infidelity.  It 
was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if  when  mankind  had  once 
thrown  off  the  shackles  of  papal  dominion,  and  the  thunders 
of  the  Vatican  ceased  to  drown  the  voice  of  enquiry,  they 
felt  some  reluctance  at  such  a  season,  to  submit  to  the  whole- 
some control  even  of  the  genuine  doctrines  of  the  faith. 


20 

Various  causes  contributed,  at  the  siimc  time,  to  introduce 
among  the  literati  a  spirit  of  scepticism  and  unbelief.  The 
revival  of  letters  during  this  centur)^  and  the  consequent 
distaste  which  was  at  first  excited  among  learned  men  by 
an  acquaintance  with  the  classics,  for  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity as  couched  in  the  jargon  of  the  monks — the  abhor- 
rence of  popery,  (then  the  only  name  for  Christianity,)  which 
was  naturally  awakened,  when  the  lights  of  science  that 
were  enkindled,  disclosed  to  view  its  horrid  corruptions 
and  abominations;  the  superficial  attainments  which  would, 
at  such  a  time,  be  made  in  literature,  and  which  were  then, 
and  always  have  been  unfriendly  to  religion*— -the  systems 
of  philosophy,  which  about  the  same  period  were  revived 
or  broached  anew,  that  tended  to  give  the  mind  a  captious 
and  sceptical  cast;  all  these  causes  and  more  than  these, 
contributed  to  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  principles  of 
unbelief,  at  the  time  of  the  reformation.  The  vain  reason  of 
man  had  not  yet  been  allowed  time,  alter  arousing  from 
those  slumbers  of  ignorance  and  superstition  in  which  it 


•  See  all  these  points  illustrated  by  Bisliop  Warburton  in  his  scrnnon  on 
ihe  influence  of  learning^  on  revelation.  In  that  masterly  performance, 
speakinjj  of  the  unfriendly  tendency  towards  reliu-ioii  which  superficial 
knowledge  has  on  the  minds  of  men,  he  says,  "  Hence  it  is  we  find  the 
leaders  and  professors  of  free  thinking  to  have  been  generally  of  this  class 
of  men.  And  hence  it  is  that  there  are  now  fewer  unbelievers  amongst 
men  eminent  in  the  learned  professions  than  at  tlie  revival  of  letters.  For 
as  science  has  kept  advancing,  and  Uie  theory  of  nature  opened,  men's 
hard  thoughts  of  revelation  have  gradually  lessened  and  subsided.  The 
philosophy  of  Aristotle,  when  the  schools  first  got  to  its  source  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  inclined  the  Italian  literati  to  Atheism;  and  the  new  in- 
ventions of  Descartes,  in  the  seventeenth,  dis|>osed  ll»c  French  to  natu- 
ralism. They  have  now  both  given  place  to  the  true  theory  of  nature.  And 
Newton,  as  well  by  hia  doctrine  as  example,  has  taught  the  ]>lnlosophic 
world  to  beUev«  and  trcmbh.'  " 


21 

had  been  so  long  sunk,  to  exhaust  itself  with  forming  vi- 
sionary systems  of  philosophy,  and  to  discover  by  painful 
experience,  that  after  all  its  efforts  at  inventing  new  theories 
and  indulging  novel  speculations,  true  wisdom  will  be  found 
in  taking  refuge  in  the  sublime  system  of  revealed  religion. 
Accordingly,  we  find  that  this  has  been  done,  at  subsequent 
periods  in  the  history  of  science.  The  age  of  Newton,  of 
Locke,  Boyle,  and  those  illustrious  men  who  appeared  with 
them,  was  the  age  of  the  true  philosophy,  and  it  was  the  age 
also  of  revelation — These  great  men  have  proved  that  the 
true  religion  has  nothing  to  apprehend  from  the  true  philo- 
losophy— -Whilst  in  one  hand,  they  held  the  torch  which 
darted  its  penetrating  rays  through  the  works  of  God,  both 
in  the  physical  and  moral  world,  in  the  other,  they  held 
that  which  illuminated  his  word.  They  have  rendered  theii* 
names  as  sacred  to  the  altar  as  to  literature — Instead  of  be- 
coming the  enemies  of  our  religion,  they  are  her  pride.  In 
fact,  true  philosophy  never  has  been  and  never  will  be  hos- 
tile to  pure  Christianity — On  the  contrary,  it  has  proved  her 
hand-maid,  and  ablest  support.  It  has  strengthened  the  foun- 
dation on  which  she  rests,  and  erected  around  her  the  most 
impregnable  bulwarks.  While,  however,  we  recollect  with 
pleasure  and  exultation,  the  noble  example  set  by  these 
truly  great  men,  to  the  philosophic  world,  we  have  to  la- 
ment that  there  have  been  found  philosophers  who  have 
discovered  a  different  spirit,  and  have  converted  those  ex- 
alted powers  of  the  understanding  bestowed  on  them  by 
their  Creator,  into  weapons  with  which  to  wage  an  ungrate- 
ful and  impious  war  against  him.*  For  the  most  part,  how- 

•  It  is  reported  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  once  said  to  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Halley,  who  (it  seems)  sometimes  spoke  slijjhtly  of  revealed  religion, 
"  Dr.  Halley,  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  you  wlien  you  speak  about  astro- 


22 

ever,  it  may  be  remarked,  that,  although  the  enemies  o4 
Christianity  have  sometimes  discovered  a  profound  acquaint- 
ance with  other  branches  of  science,  yet  they  have  evidenced 
at  the  same  time,  a  shameful  ignorance  of  theological — that 
with  which  of  all  others  they  ought  to  have  made  them- 
selves acquainted,  before  they  presumed  to  commit  any 
overt  acts  of  hostility  against  the  holy  religion  of  their  fa- 
thers. "  I  very  much  doubt,  says  an  elegant  writer,  whether 
a  single  instance  can  be  given  of  a  truly  philosophic  mind, 
that  understood  Christianity  and  disbelieved  it."* 

In  recent  times,  we  have  seen  infidelity  arise  with  aug- 
mented boldness  and  augmented  virulence.  We  have  seen 
plans  which  had,  no  doubt,  been  long  before  meditated  by 

noray  or  other  parts  of  mathematics,  because  it  is  a  subject  which  you 
have  studied  and  well  understand;  but  you  should  not  talkof  Cliristianity, 
J'or  you  have  noi  studied  it;  I  have,  and  know  that  you  know  nolhing^  of  the 
matter."  The  gross  ignorance  of  Voltaire  in  theological  matters  has  been 
;Annply  exposed  in  the  "  Jews  Letters;"  and  we  have  never  yet  seen  any 
thing-  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Hume  which  shows  him  to  have  been  better 
versed  in  them.  And  I  am  sure  that  no  one  will  be  inclined  to  think 
Mr.  Paine  an  exception  from  this  rule,  or  he  would  not  have  brought 
forward  with  so  much  confidence,  objections  which  had  been  again  and 
again  refuted.  Would  to  God,  that  men  would  but  take  the  trouble  to 
make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  evidences  of  our  holy  religion,  before 
they  reject  it.  Tlie  number  of  unbelievers  would  then  be  few  indeed. 
It  i»  only  from  imperfect  and  partial  views  of  the  subject  that  men  are  led 
to  discredit  her  prelcnfiions.  A  more  thorough  examination  would  produce 
conviction,  and  settle  them  in  the  faith.  This  has  been  uniformly  and  inva- 
riably the  result  in  the  case  of  all  those  who  have  entered  upon  a  candid 
and  serious  investigation  of  the  claims  of  our  religion  to  credit  and  autho- 
rity. Lord  Lyttlcton,  the  elder,  acknowledges  that  in  his  youth  he  was 
inclined  to  scepticism;  but  that  more  mature  research  made  him  a  Chris- 
tian. This  was  also  tlie  case  witlj  Mr.  Gilbert  West,  and  many  others  that 
might  be  enumerated. 

•  Dr.  Beatlie,  in  his  Evidences. 


23 

the  ho|icful  members  of  the  same  fraternity,  completely  con-* 
cocted,  and  carried  into  execution,  to  exterminate  Christi- 
anity. We  have  seen  this  leaven  of  infidelity  fermenting,  un- 
til it  has  overtuiTied  empires,  and  accomplislied  its  baleful 
work  in  levelling,  for  a  while,  our  holy  religion  with  the 
dust  over  one  of  the  fairest  portions  of  the  globe.  We  have 
seen  it  fill  that  unhappy  country  with  desolation  and  car- 
nage. Nor  have  we,  my  brethren,  been  exempt  from  the  in- 
fluence of  those  principles  which  produced  convulsions  in 
the  old  world  that  shook  it  to  its  centre.  The  tares  of  unbe- 
lief that  produced  such  destructive  fruits  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  have  found  in  our  country,  a  soil  but  too  favour- 
able to  their  growth  and  propagation.  About  the  time  of 
our  revolution,  and  some  years  afterwards,  a  period  of  fer- 
ment in  which  the  mind  was,  as  it  were,  loosened  from  the 
moorings  of  reason  and  the  control  of  steady  principles  and 
habits,  and  of  course  in  a  condition  the  best  fitted  to  receive 
any  impressions  that  might  be  made  on  it  by  the  apostles  of 
irreligion — I  say,  at  this  season,  so  favourable  as  was  ima- 
gined for  the  purpose,  some  pestilent  productions  were  in- 
dustriously circulated  among  the  people,  and  the  attempt 
made  to  link  the  malign  and  mischievous  cause  of  atheism 
and  irreligion  with  the  humane  and  noble  one  of  civil  liberty 
— Thanks  be  rendered  to  that  kind  and  good  providence, 
which  defeated  this  dark  and  malignant  purpose,  and  which, 
in  bestowing  on  us  those  excellent  free  institutions,  which 
we  at  present  enjoy,  extended  to  us,  at  the  same  time,  the 
only  pillar  which  can  sustain  them,  the  holy  religion  of  the 
Saviour.  We  still  have  it,  however,  deeply  to  lament,  that 
although  the  pieces  before  alluded  to,  failed  of  their  great 
object,  yet  they  have  but  too  much  vitiated  and  poisoned 
the  public  mind — Are  we  not  still  sensible  of  their  destruc- 
tive fruits,  in  the  deplorable  neglect  and  inattention  to  the 


<M*dinanccs  ol  religion  and  in  the  unblublnng  avowal  ot  the 
principles  of  unbelief?  Do  we  not  see  these  principles  by 
infecting  the  voung  and  rising  generation,  contaminating  the 
public  morals  at  the  founta'm  head,  and  awakening  in  the 
bosom  of  the  patriot  the  most  painful  apprehensions  for  the 
future  destiny  of  our  country?  My  brethren,  it  is  true  that 
the  church  enjoys,  at  this  season,  perfect  tranquillity,  and 
that  the  rage  of  her  enemies,  which  but  a  short  time  ago 
threatened  her  peace  and  existence,  has  abated  in  its  malig- 
nity and  been  checked  in  its  circulation;  but  should  we  per- 
mit our  vigilance  against  its  approach  and  encroachments  to 
be  intermitted,  or  our  exertions  relaxed?  The  great  antichrist, 
no  longer  walks  forth  with  so  unblushing  a  front,  openly  in- 
sulting heaven  with  its  impieties  and  breathing  destruction 
against  the  powers  of  earth,  but  when  operating  in  secret  may 
it  not  be  tending  as  surely  towards  the  accomplishment  of  its 
grand  object?  May  it  not  be  sapping  the  foundations  of  Chris- 
tianity? For  my  part,  I  iun  of  opinion,  that  although  this  blas- 
phemous spirit  has  ceased  to  convulse,  iuid  waste  Christen- 
dom, it  still  presents  to  us  a  most  dangerous  and  formidable 
aspect.  Its  fatal  poison  is  found  every  where— The  student 
meets  with  it  in  the  treatise  of  philosophy,  in  real  and  ficti- 
tious history,  in  the  narrative  of  the  traveller,  in  the  produc- 
tions of  the  muse— The  very  fountains  of  science  are  now 
poisoned  with  it.  This  poison  has  incorporated  itself  into  the 
wholesome  food  of  knowledge.  While  we  are  pouring  that  ali- 
ment into  the  mind  of  youth  which  is  necessan'  to  its  expan- 
sion and  its  growth  to  maturity,  it  is  imbil)ing  along  with  it 
this  noxious  infusion — It  has  diffused  its  tincture  over  the 
most  popular  productions  of  the  day.  If  the  ordinary  reader 
take  up  the  small  pamphlet  for  his  amusement,  this  ephemc- 
ron  also,  lives  not  its  day  in  his  fancy,  without  leaving  behind 
at  its  (It  p-.irtiire,  this  fatal  venom.  Are  we  not,  then,  in  real 


25 

and  imminent  danger?  Are  not  the  rising  generation,  when 
thus  circumtanced,  objects  of  peculiar  solicitude?  My 
reverend  brethren,  these  evils,  if  remedied  at  all,  must  be 
remedied  by  your  efforts;  your  province  is  it  to  provide  an 
antidote  to  this  poison.  If  the  progress  of  infidelity  be 
checked,  it  must  be  checked  by  the  diligence  of  the  clergy* 
Be  active,  then;  summon  all  your  strength  to  stem  the  tor- 
rent. Make  yourselves  profoundly  acquainted  with  the  evi- 
dences of  our  holy  religion.  Ground  your  flocks  well  in 
these  evidences.  Take  peculiar  care  of  the  religious  educa- 
tion of  the  young.  In  the  period  of  youth  those  deep 
impressions  may  be  made  upon  the  minds  in  favour  of  vir- 
tue and  religion,  which  can  never  afterwards  be  entirely 
obliterated. 

Such  and  so  formidable  is  infidelity  at  the  present  age. 
And  what,  my  brethren,  is  this  infidelity  of  which  we  speak? 
what  is  the  character  it  has  displayed  in  the  history  of  man? 
It  appears,  indeed,  outwardly  comely  unto  men,  and  speaks 
a  fair  and  glozing  language,  but,  when  stripped  of  its  dis- 
guises, what  is  it?  Let  me  pause  for  a  few  moments  to  pour- 
tray  it  to  you. 

Infidelity  is  the  true  Antichrist,  of  which  all  other  Anti- 
christs are  but  counterparts.  Ever  since  the  days  of  old  Celsus, 
and  even  from  the  Apostolic  age,  it  has  existed  in  the  Church 
of  Christ,  but  has  never  been  completely  unveiled  until  re- 
cent times.*    Infidelity  is  that  power  which  maintains  a 

*  It  will  be  seen  that  the  infidelity  which  is  here  attempted  to  be  de- 
scribed, is  of  that  dark  and  malignant  kind  which  prevailed  among  the 
illuminati  of  France  and  Germany,  at  the  period  in  which  Atheism,  along 
with  Anarchy,  was  established  by  law;  when  the  Son  of  God  was  pro- 
claimed to  be  an  impostor,  and  his  Gospel  a  forgery;  and  when  these  mad 
zealots  of  impiety  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  to  exterminate  Christi- 
anity.— Unbelievers  in  general,  indeed,  will  disavow  such  shocking  doc- 
trines as  are  here  ascribed  to  them,  but  in  doing  so  they  are  unfaithful  to 

D 


26 

firm  and  perpetual  league  with  the  grand  adversary  of  God 
and  man.  Like  him,  an  apostate  spirit  fallen  from  its  pri- 
mitive dignity,  it  wages  incessant  war  against  heaven  and 
all  holy  things.  To  accomplish  its  plans  of  hostility  against 
Christ  and  his  heavenly  kingdom,  it  has  had  recourse  to 
numberless  stratagems.  Sometimes  it  has  essayed  secret- 
ly to  undermine  the  holy  religion  of  tlie  Saviour;  at  other 
times,  it  has  assailed  it  with  open  violence.  Sometimes  it  has 
assumed  the  form  of  an  angel  of  light,  and  under  this  dis- 
guise has  gained  admission  amongst  the  hosts  of  the  Lord, 
and  tried  to  seduce  them  from  their  allegiance  and  duty  to 
him;  at  other  times,  appearing  in  its  genuine  shape,  as  an 
angel  of  darkness,  has  spit  against  them  its  bitterest  venom. 
But  if  vou  wish  to  see  disclosed  the  deep  malignity  of  the 
nature  of  infidelitv,  and  those  secret  designs  by  which  it  is 
alwavs  actuated,  although  sometimes  it  dares  not  openly 
avow  them,  you  must  trace  its  footsteps  through  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe  in  recent  times.  There  it  has  exhibited  its  real 
character,  there  developed  its  dark  purposes,  and  there  pro- 

thcirown  principles.  The  same  difficulties  in  revealed  relipioii  which 
staj^ger  their  belief  and  drive  them  into  the  quarters  of  th«  enemy,  are 
found  also  in  natural  religion. — The  fact  is,  that  as  soon  as  the  mind  is 
Ifwsened  from  its  adhersnce  to  the  orthodox  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
there  is  no  middle  point  at  which  it  can  stop.  Like  a  bark  swung  from  its 
moorings,  it  floats  and  fluctuates  on  a  sea  of  uncertainty,  and  finds  no 
rcsting-placo  until  it  plunges  into  the  gulph  of  Atheism.  The  French 
infidels,  thertfore,  only  carried  their  principles  to  their  just  extent.  It  is  in 
vain  thatthcenennies  of  religion  have  endeavoured  to  cloak  their  real  prin- 
ciples by  assuming  the  modest  appellation  of  Deists.  The  first  title  that 
was  given  them  was  the  true  one,  that  of  Atheists.  This  is  expressive  of 
their  real  sentiments.  It  has  not,  however,  for  more  than  a  century  past, 
suited  their  purpose.  Once  they  were  contented  with  indulging  their 
libertinism  of  Uiemselvcs,  or  at  most  with  initiating  the  learned  into  the 
mysteries  of  their  iniquity;  but  in  later  times  they  have  attempted  to  gain 
over  the  populace,  and  the  frightful  name  of  Atheists  would  have  proved 
too  powerful  a  rcpcUant. 


27 

duced  its  baleful  fruits.  And  what  is  infidelity  or  the  true 
Antichrist,  as  there  disclosed  to  view,  rising  out  of  the  rank 
and  venomous  bosom  of  the  modern  school?  At  one  time, 
it  is  a  demon,  which,  not  contented  with  tearing  from  their 
foundations  all  the  sacred  establishments  of  the  world, 
would  wage  impious  war  against  the  government  of  God, 
would  demolish  his  awful  throne,  and  strike  him  from  the 
universe;  at  another  time,  it  is  a  Moloch,  delighting  in  the 
blood  of  the  Saints,  immolating  human  victims  to  sate 
its  cruel  appetite.  It  walks  perpetually  to  and  fro  on  the 
earth,  the  most  active  spirit  that  co-operates  with  the  prince 
of  darkness,  in  effecting  his  purposes  of  ruin.  Temples,  al- 
tars, sacrifices,  all  sacred  institutions,  are  the  objects  of  its 
irreconcileable  hatred.  These  it  pursues  with  exterminating 
virulence.  It  enters  with  deadly  intent  also  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  civil  society.  It  would  sever  the  strongest  bonds 
which  connect  mankind  together.  Its  progress  there  has 
been  marked  with  revolutions,  with  anarchy  and  with  blood. 
A  missionary  from  the  dominions  of  chaos  and  old  night,  it 
would  restore  their  confused  and  tumultuous  reign.  Nor 
does  infidelity  here  stop  its  course.*  Like  a  malignant  ge- 
nius, it  essays  to  extend  its  sway  into  the  bosom  of  man, 
and  disturb  its  peace.  It  would  entinguish  all  his  hopes, 
blast  his  best  prospects,  and  dry  up  all  the  fountains  of  his 
comfort.  It  sounds  its  raven  voice  over  the  bed  of  the  suf- 
ferer, the  knell  to  all  his  expectations  of  succour.  Whilst 
with  one  hand,  it  would  wrest  from  the  mouth  of  man  the 
purest  cups  of  his  enjoyment;  with  the  other  it  would  pour 
out  those  vials,  that  would  give  tenfold  bitterness  to  his 

*  This  is  the  infidelity  of  Hume,  Voltaire,  and  the  other  illuminati,  that 
infidelity  which  would  blot  out  a  God  from  the  universe,  deny  his  provi- 
dence, and  make  death  an  eternal  sleep.  Of  such  a  principle  this  can- 
not be  considered  as  an  exagg-erated  representation. 


28 

sorrows.  The  poor  it  would  render  hopeless,  the  wrctchc  d 
inconsolulile,  the  bereaved  desperate.  It  would  draw  the  cur- 
tain of  midnight,  (if  I  may  speak  so,)  over  the  hemisphere 
of  man's  lot.  Through  it  no  ray  of  light  could  penetrate  to 
cheer  him.  When  infidelity  has  thus  despoiled  man  of  his 
sweetest  enjoyments,  and  infused  a  deeper-tinged  gall  into 
his  sorrows,  it  would  cut  him  off  from  all  intercourse  with 
God;  it  would  convert  the  heavens  into  a  canopy  of  brass, 
against  which  all  his  importunities  and  complaints  would 
strike  and  die  away  in  fruitless  reverberation,  no  eai*  of  divine 
mercy  being  found  there  to  receive  them.  And,  to  conclude 
this  work  of  horror,  when  infidelity  has  thus  stripped  man 
of  all  his  hopes,  his  consolations,  and  his  best  enjoyments; 
when  it  has  transformed  the  earth  into  a  dungeon,  in  which 
he  is  immured  without  being  visited  by  a  single  ray  of  light, 
it  follows  him  even  to  the  bed  of  death.  It  sounds  in  his 
ears  the  most  dismal  omens.  It  dashes  from  his  lips  the  last 
drop  of  consolation  which  can  mitigate  the  sharpness  of  that 
bitter  drauijjit.  It  goes  still  farther — it  exhibits  its  gloomy 
form  even  amidst  the  repositories  of  the  dead.  With  ruth- 
less hand,  it  would  extinguish  all  those  lights  that  cheer  the 
fainting  spirit,  as  she  pursues  her  trembling  way  through 
that  dreary  passage.  It  would  snatch  the  kevs  of  death  and 
the  grave  from  the  hands  of  Him  who  bears  them,  as  tro- 
phies of  that  victory  he  has  obtained  over  them,  and  conduct 
mankind  into  their  silent  chambers;  and  then,  bolting,  irre- 
versibly bcjlting  the  gtitcs  of  heaven  against  them,  would 
there  leave  them  to  worms,  to  rottenness,  and  oblivion.  As 
watchmen  on  the  walls  of  Zion,  should  )Ou  not  guard 
against  the  approaches  of  so  dreadful  an  enemy? 

In  the  next  place,  mv  reverend  brethern,  the  importance 
of  >  our  exertions  to  the  temporal  and  eternal  interest  of 
mankind  should  prove  a  powerful  motive  to  industry. 


^9 

The  temporal  Interests  of  mankind  are  abundantly  advan- 
ced by  your  efforts  in  preaching  the  gospel.  That  religion  is 
indispensably  necessary  to  the  welfare  and  even  the  existence 
of  civil  society,  is  a  maxim  which  has  been  consecrated  by 
the  experience  of  ages.  And  surely  it  will  be  allowed  on  all 
hands,  that  never  was  there  a  religion  known,  so  benign  in 
the  effects  it  produces  in  the  world,  as  Christianity.  What 
wonders  of  utility  did  it  not  effect  at  its  introduction!  How 
salutary  has  been  its  sway  at  every  period  of  its  history! 
At  its  commencement,  the  immence  structures  of  Pagan 
superstition  sunk  before  it.  On  the  ruins  of  the  temples  of 
idolatrous  worship,  it  erected  the  worship  of  the  one  only 
living  and  true  God — in  place  of  the  absurd,  obscene,  and 
abominable  mythology  of  the  Heathens,  it  substituted  the 
purest  and  most  sublime  theolog}'.  It  bore  along  with  it  a 
system  of  moral  truth  more  simple,  luminous  and  perfect, 
and  armed  with  more  awful  sanctions,  than  the  schools  had 
been  able  to  attain  by  the  toils  of  ages.  Under  its  genial 
influence  the  Jew  shook  off  his  national  antipathies,  the 
Gentile  forsook  his  idols  of  wood  and  stone,  the  horrors  of 
war  were  diminished,  human  sacrifices  and  many  other  bar- 
barous customs  were  abolished,  the  oracles  of  imposture 
were  silenced,  man  became  humanized  in  his  sentiments  and 
refined  in  his  manners;  in  a  word,  men  felt  themselves  more 
intimately  united  with  each  other,  the  bonds  of  society  were 
strengthened  and  cemented.  Wherever  this  peace-breathing 
religion  went,  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  was  fulfilled,  "  the 
wilderness  and  the  solitary  were  made  glad,  and  the  desert 
rejoiced  and  blossomed  as  the  rose."  Such  was  once  the  be- 
nign influence  of  Christianity,  and  such,  or  similar  to  these 
are  the  eflfects  it  still  continues  to  produce  when  the  hearts 
of  men  are  truly  subjected  to  its  sway.  It  controls  those 
passions  that  poison  the  intercourse  of  mankind,  it  moderates 


30 

those  desires  which  when  they  become  inordinate  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  bosom,  it  calls  into  exercise  all  those  be- 
nevolent affections  which  in  their  operation,  arc  like  heal- 
ing streams,  that  flow  through  society,  mitigating  its  sor- 
rows, soothing  its  cares,  and  sweetening  its  enjoyments.  In 
fine,  by  its  sublime  morality,  it  heightens  and  refines  our 
principles  of  virtue;  by  its  awful  sanctions,  it  constrains  us 
to  holiness;  by  its  precious  hopes,  it  consoles  and  supports 
us  amidst  the  toils  of  duty.  Imbibing  its  bland  influence^ 
the  savage  of  the  wilderness  shakes  off  his  ferocity,  leses 
his  thirst  for  blood,  lavs  aside  the  horrid  instruments  of 
barbarous  warfare,  takes  up  the  implements  and  cultivates 
the  arts  of  husbandry  and  peace,  and  learns  to  feel  the  dig- 
nity of  his  nature.  Under  the  mild  but  efficient  control  of 
our  religion,  the  tranquillity  of  states  is  preserved,  rulers 
learn  to  exercise  their  sway  in  righteousness  and  equity,  sub- 
jects to  yield  submission  to  just  authority,  all  classes  of 
men,  due  subordination.  In  a  political  point  of  light,  there- 
fore, the  offices  you  perform,  are  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. Most  cgregiously  mistaken  in  their  political  views 
are  those  who  suppose  the  influence  of  thf  clergy  to  be  ini- 
mical to  the  civil  liberties  of  mankind. 

But,  if  the  offices  you  perform  are  important  as  they  re- 
late to  the  temporal  interests  of  men,  infinitely  more  impor- 
tant are  they,  when  it  is  considered,  that,  with  your  faithful- 
ness in  discharging  them,  are  connected  their  everlasting 
interests.  How  interesting  the  reflection!  that  upon  our  ef- 
forts may  it  depend  whether  many  of  our  ftllow-nun  shall 
be  everlastinglv  happy  or  miserable  in  a  future  world!  O 
man  of  God!  and  canst  thou,  under  this  impression,  give 
sleep  to  thine  eyes,  or  slumber  to  thine  eye-lids,  until  thou 
hast  fulfilled  to  the  utmost  thy  duty  in  calling  sinners  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  satan  unto  God? 


31 

Other  men  have  charge  of  their  own  salvation  only;  you  are, 
in  a  degree,  accountable  for  the  salvation  of  all  those  en- 
trusted to  your  care.  How  ardent  should  be  the  prayers 
with  which  you  importune  the  throne  of  mercy  for  the  flocks 
over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers!  how 
deep  the  desire  of  your  hearts  for  their  salvation! 

And  this  consideration  is  rendered  still  more  awful,  when 
we  connect  with  it  the  associated  one,  that,  for  your  atten- 
tion to  the  souls  entrusted  to  you,  you  are  responsible  to  Je- 
sus Christ,  the  Bishop  of  souls.  His  all-seeing  eye  dwells  up- 
on your  conduct — ^he  inscribes  on  the  records  of  eternity  the 
services  of  faithful  pastors — He  prepares  for  them  brighter 
crowns  and  more  glorious  habitations,  than  for  other  men, 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  shall  shine  there  with  the 
refulgent  glories  of  the  sun.  But  the  names  of  slothful  and 
faithless  pastors  shall  be  blotted  out  of  the  book  of  life.  A 
deeper  condemnation  is  reserved  for  them  on  the  day  of  re- 
tribution. Should  we  not  approach  this  sacred  office,  this 
ark  of  the  covenant,  with  fear  and  trembling?  Should  not  a 
sacred  awe  seize  us  while  this  holy  burthen  presses  on  our 
shoulders?  Listen  to  the  terms  on  which  our  Divine  Mas- 
ter granted  us  our  charter — "  Son  of  man,  I  have  made  thee 
a  watchman  unto  the  house  of  Israel:  therefore,  hear  the 
word  at  my  mouth,  and  give  them  warning  from  me.  When 
I  shall  say  unto  the  wicked  thou  shalt  surely  die,  and  thou 
givest  him  not  warning,  nor  speakest  to  warn  the  wicked 
from  his  wicked  way  to  save  his  life,  the  same  wicked  man 
shall  die  in  his  iniquity;  but  his  blood  will  I  require  at  thy 
hand."  Do  not  your  hearts  sink  within  you  at  the  thought, 
that  through  your  delinquency  in  duty,  a  single  sinner 
shall  perish  and  his  blood  rise  up  and  speak  against  you  at 
the  bar  of  your  Lord?  Yet,  if  you  slumber  and  sleep  whilst 
the  «ituation  of  your  flocks   requires  you  to  be  vigilant  at 


32 

your  posts — if  you  permit  them  to  perish  for  the  want  of 
that  food  which  you  are  commissioned  to  dispense — if  you 
see  them  environed  with  perils  and  do  not  give  them  warn- 
ing— secure  in  sin  and  do  not  endeavour  to  awake  them, 
indulging  groundless  hopes  and  do  not  undeceive  them;  what 
better  destiny  have  you  any  reason  to  anticipate?  On  the 
other  hand,  what  delight  will  it  give  to  the  faithful  pastor  to 
render  in  his  account  to  his  supreme  Lord — Here  am  I, 
Jesus,  Master!  he  shall  say,  and  those  whom  thou  hast 
given  me.  Thine  they  were,  and  thine  they  shall  be  to  all 
eternity;  and  I  thank  thee  that  thou  rendered  me  the  hum- 
ble instrument  of  gathering  them  into  thy  fold  on  earth,  and 
at  last  conducting  them  to  thy  heavenly  kingdom.  Blessed, 
indeed,  is  that  servant  whom  his  Lord  at  his  coming  shall 
find  thus  prepared  to  meet  him.  Did  you  ever  endeavour  to 
realize  your  emotions,  if,  when  you  shall  stand  in  the  pa- 
radise of  God,  a  single  soul  shall  approach,  and  say  of  vou, 
my  God!  this  is  that  wise  steward  whom  thou  didst  make 
ruler  over  thy  household,  and  to  whom  I  feel  myself  in- 
debted, under  the  operation  of  thv  Holy  Spirit,  for  my 
everlasting  salvation?  To  him  I  owe  it,  that  I  now  enjoy 
thy  blisful  presence,  heavenly  Father!  and  that  I  have  en- 
tered into  the  rest  which  thou  hast  provided  for  thy  hol\' 
people.  Will  not  the  happiness  derived  from  such  a  source 
invigorate  the  joys  of  the  paradise  above?  Can  the  human 
mind  conceive  of  a  more  powerful  motive  to  diligence  and 
assiduity  in  the  performance  of  our  sacred  duties? 

And  now  what  shall  I,  what  need  I  say  more  to  excite 
you  to  zeal  and  activity  in  your  holy  vocation?  Need  I  re- 
mind you  of  the  exquisite  pleasure,  which  to  the  good  man, 
whose  heart  and  affections  are  engaged  in  the  sacred  cause, 
is  found  in  the  performance  of  your  blessed  task?  You  know 
what  this  pleasure  is;  you  know  that  it  pro\  es  a  cordial  to 


53 

your  spirits,  amidst  all  your  fatigues  and  difficulties,  trials 
and  sufferings.  The  world,  indeed,  imagines  that  the  task 
which  you  perform  is  an  irksome  one,  and  that  your  life  is 
joyless  and  gloomy.  It  was  never  more  mistaken;  it  knows 
not  the  exalted  consolations  of  tlvi  ministry.  Jesus  Christ 
permits  not  his  anointed  to  be  comfortless— No,  my  Saviour! 
had  we  nothing  but  the  advantage  of  more  frequent  and 
familiar  intercourse  with  thee,  we  would  not  exchange  this 
gratification  for  all  that  a  corrupt  world  has  to  bestow. 

Yes,  my  reverend  brethren,  your  occupation  is  a  most 
exalted  and  delightful  one.  What  employment  more  delight- 
ful than  to  be  wholly  devoted  to  the  service  of  a  merciful 
God,  a  kind  and  good  master?  What  can  afford  more  grati- 
fication to  the  benevolent  mind,  than  to  be  the  messengers 
to  convey  to  a  fallen  and  depraved  race,  the  glad  tidings  of 
pardon  and  reconciliation  from  their  God;  to  publish  peace 
to  them?  What  can  be  more  grateful  to  the  feeling  heart 
than  to  be  instrumental  in  the  everlasting  salvation  of  man- 
kind? There  is  joy  among  the  angels  of  God  over  one  sin- 
ner that  repenteth.  Happy,  then;  thrice  happy  is  he  who  is 
made  the  humble  instrument  to  lead  him  to  repentance!  In 
short,  what  can  give  you  a  more  exalted  satisfaction  than 
that  which  your  sacred  office  guarantees  to  you,  to  co-operate 
with  your  Lord  in  his  works  of  mercy,  to  comfort  those 
that  mourn,  to  bind  up  the  broken  hearted,  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  the  poor,  and  to  assuage  to  the  departing  spirit,  the  last 
throes  of  dissolving  nature?  No,  O  my  God!  to  whose  sa- 
cred service  we  have  devoted  ourselves,  we  desire  no  other 
joys  but  those  which  can  be  drawn  from  thy   sanctuary! 
Henceforth  we  would  devote  ourselves  with  renewed  fervor 
to  the  fulfilment  of  those  holy  duties,  which  thou  hast  Im- 
posed upon  us.  Great  shepherd  of  thy  flock!  do  thou  strength- 
en our  hands  and  comfort  our  hearts  amidst  our  toils  and 


difficulties;  make  U3  instrumental  in  turning  many  sinnert> 
from  the  error  of  their  ways  to  the  service  of  the  living 
God,  who  shall  be  the  pledges  of  our  usefulness  in  this  life, 
and  the  crowns  of  our  rejoicing  in  the  world  to  come.  Ac- 
company all  our  exertions  with  the  quickening  energy  of  thy 
holy  spirit,  and  when  our  labours  on  earth  shall  be  termi- 
nated; when  we  shall  have  finished  our  course,  do  thou,  O 
God!  prepare  us  all  to  receive  the  divine  benediction,  "  Well 
done  ye  good  and  faithful  servants;  enter  ye  into  the  joys  of 
your  Lord." 

Such  arc  the  duties  of  the  christian  minister,  and  such  the 
powerful  motives  w  hich  should  propel  us  tO  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  those  duties.  And  exhausted  as  must  be  both  your 
time  and  jiatience,  I  cannot  conclude,  without  requesting 
you  my  Brethren  of  the  I^aity,  to  extend  to  the  clergy,  in  all 
their  endeavours,  your  most  cordial  co-operation  and  sup- 
port.— They  can  do  little  unless  aided  by  you,  and  since 
they  are  toiling  for  your  advantage,  surely,  it  is  but  reason- 
able to  expect  that  you  should  discover  a  readiness  to  exert 
yourselves  in  order  to  augment  their  influence  and  useful- 
ness. Let  us  conjointly  direct  our  exertions  towards  promot- 
ing the  interests  of  our  common  Christianity,  but  more  par- 
ticularly of  that  church,  to  which  we  belong.  Let  all  things 
be  transacted  among  us  in  decency,  and  harmonv",  and  order. 
— Let  us  closely  adhere  in  all  our  public  offices  to  our  pure 
and  admirable  forms  of  worship,  and  revive,  if  possible,  the 
wholesome  rigors  of  ancient  discipline.  Pure  in  our  doc- 
trines, we  should  be  equidly  pure  in  our  practice.  Let  us 
deprecate  as  one  of  the  greatest  curses,  all  discord  and  dis- 
sention  in  our  public  councils.  Framing  our  canons,  in  the 
most  mature  and  deliberate  wisdom,  kt  us  execute  them 
to  the  utmost  of  our  ability.— Wc  are  asseml)led  here  for 
the  pui']-)ose  of  consulting  the  great  interests  of  the  church 


of  Christ;  let  us  bear  it  in  mind  that  we  sustain  a  charge  of 
immense  and  awful  magnitude.  The  destiny  of  thousands 
yet  unborn  may  depend  upon  the  efforts  we  now  make.  We 
are  laying  the  foundations  of  a  church,  which,  if  she  be  suf- 
ficiently nursed  and  cultivated  will  become  the  glory  of  our 
new  world.  Let  us  never  be  weary  in  our  endeavours  to  ex- 
tend her  doctrine,  discipline  and  forms  of  worship— Let  us 
act  unitedly  and  harmoniously,  in  the  furtherance  of  this 
great  and  primary  object.  Let  us  strive  to  revive  among  us 
a  spirit  of  pure  and  vital  piety.  Let  our  ministers  preach 
the  genuine  doctrines  of  the  Cross,  and  our  people  become 
more  and  more  sedulous,  in  their  attention  to  their  religious 
duties.  In  a  word,  let  us  become  a  holy,  and  we  shall  infal- 
libly be  also  a  happy  ministry  and  people.  And  to  this  bless- 
ed issue,  may  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  bring  us  for  Christ 
sake — Amen. 


m 


-r'tE'  -.,*■   'Mytiu.. 


w 


^^ 


^.«- 


^■^\ 


M 


^ 


V^ 


'% 


